Backwards through the Looking Glass of Time
by Jaredono
Summary: A short series of stories dealing with the Potter men and some red hair ladies. Each short story ties into the one previous and the one to come, but not necessarily chronologically...Quite a large amount of Fluff involved. Not HBP Compliant.
1. The unexpected falling in

Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me…

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It was a quiet day inside of Hogwarts' Castle. This was to be expected on a day during the OWL and NEWT examinations. Classes had ended for all those in year 5 and up, which lead to a good bit of time for the 6th Years to spend just relaxing and having fun, or study depending on how ambitious one were.

"Did she really have to try and corner me though? I mean, it's not a mystery who I DO fancy…" James Potter muttered. His best friends – the marauders – were walking with him through the fourth floor hallway towards the Gryffindor tower. Well, not all the marauders. Peter was off who knows where, but the remaining three didn't seem to notice.

"Well, she definitely was easy on the eyes – real easy, I do say." Sirius barked loudly next to him with a chuckle.

It was a well known fact that this wasn't the first time that James Potter had turned down a girl solely on the account that she wasn't Lily Evans. And after each of these occasions, Sirius would needle James about it so much that James got furious and stormed off. Sirius would nearly fall after from laughter each and every time.

"Judging on how you are waxing poetic Padfoot, I'd reckon you wouldn't have stood by Prongs' noble decision to lightly let the girl down and stay true to his one and only." Remus Lupin replied jovially. Thankfully, it was a week after the full moon and he had already recovered from his monthly change.

"Damn right! I would have just led her right to the astronomy tower…" Remus and James rolled their eyes – they knew that the only time Sirius had ever been in the astronomy tower alone with a girl was when he got reamed out by Professor McGonagall while trying to set up a prank.

"And gotten it on. Whatever Padfoot. You haven't yet and I doubt you'll even let yourself drop to that level of perverseness. You're a dog; stop trying to be a snake." James replied casually, though the slightly insulting tone in his voice wasn't missed by his friends. A soft whisper on the wind seemed to hold for a moment as a gentle breezed whipped through the castle.

"Don't you dare associate me with those…those filthy backstabbing assholes!" James was surprised to ignite Sirius' temper so easily about the fact that his family scorned for not being a Slytherin, but James' only reaction was to turn to Sirius and quirk his eyebrow at him.

"At least I haven't ball and chained myself to …"

Sirius never got to finish his statement.

Despite the fact that James was several inches smaller than Sirius and was never as muscular, Sirius found himself pressed against the wall so quickly he hadn't known what happened, his feet knocked out from under him. This change in the conversation wasn't a turn that it usually took.

"I dare you to finish that statement Sirius Black. I dare you." The gaze leveled at the sole Gryffindor member of the Black family was murderous. "You ever imply that Lily ties me down because she's oppressive again, I swear that Bella will look like a saint when I'm done with you." James was shaking with a rage that none of his friends had ever seen before. Remus gently placed his hand on James' shoulder to try and get him to relax; relax both physically off of Sirius and emotionally from such a high.

"James…I think we're just both surprised by your devotion. Lily…Lily hasn't shown you anything that would make us think that she reciprocates…we are just worried you're over doing it." James seemed to shake his head, but he did release his hold on Sirius. James closed his eyes, trying to hold his anger in check.

"Right, Moony…I mean, she's just another pair of legs, right?" Sirius was about to laugh when he saw the look James sent him and choked it back.

"Lily Evans, for your information, gets better grades than any of us, no matter how adept at spellwork we may be." The statement wasn't lost on Sirius, knowing full well that there were not many self-taught animagi out there. "She also sticks up for her enemies to her friends as much as she sticks up for those who she cares for to the people who don't like her. That takes a lot more guts than the three of us have combined. No guts are required when we're pretty sure we won't get caught doing any of the petty crap that we do. She's ten times the mage than any of us will ever be for that reason. She makes me want to be a better person than I am – and just for her! And, as you so nicely pointed out, that's while she despises my guts at the moment!

"Not to mention, that yes, she is so gorgeous looking that she is, as you said earlier, _very_ easy on the eyes." James sighed hard, balling his hand into a fist while shaking his head, before taking another long look at Sirius.

"Don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way, Sirius." James paused once more to collect his thoughts. "You know that I was willing to risk the scorn and denial of my parents care to take you in to our house if they hadn't agreed with you living with us. You know that I love you like a brother right?" Sirius nodded, uncertain where James, his best friend and surrogate brother, was going with this statement.

"Sirius, if you ever forced me to choose between you and her, even as things stand now…I'd chose her a thousand out of thousand times without batting an eyelash." James walked the way the trio had come without either of the other two teens trying to stop him. The statement he had made was so profound that it had left both speechless. Remus knew that he was sure he could be included in a couple of those statements; Sirius was just the one who had made an ass out of himself.

"Blimey…" Sirius shook his head out of his own reverie and scratched the back of his head. The grim animagus pushed off from the wall towards a second corridor, leaving the werewolf to his own thoughts. Remus stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where James had gone from, trying to collect his thoughts.

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This is my first fic in a long time - please Review and Respond! It'd be much appreciated!

Also...I'm still looking for a Beta...so if you're interested, let me know! As much as I wish my wife would be my own and only (BETA! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE GUTTERS!), well, a smart man listens and she said that I should find another. c)


	2. A Christmas Prank called Love

Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me….

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Harry gently arose out of bed, smiling gleefully to himself. It was Christmas morning, and he couldn't have thought of a better way to start the day – by giving a gift to two of his best friends in terms of a prank. He smiled ruefully, glancing down at the small red cat that now laid in the crook of one of his arms and with a bag on his other shoulder, he left his room.

Gently padding down the hallway, Harry slowly pushed open the ancient door that led to the room that Ginny and Hermione shared with his free arm. Shutting the door behind him, he waved his hand and the candles in the room lit at a very dim level. He grinned, thinking it was worth all the time training with Dumbledore if just for this gift. Softly placing the red cat down, the formerly angst filled teenager cast a silencing charm around Hermione's bed. Shaking his head at the ease of which he was able to pull off his own prank, he moved to Ginny's bed and gently shook the beautiful red head to wake her up.

"Wha—Mum? Why up?" Ginny moaned in her sleep. Harry couldn't think of anything cuter that he had ever seen. The ends of his fingers ran through her hair, trying to get the young witch to wake up just a bit more. "Mum…," the sixteen year old teen whined, this time blearily blinking her eyes open. Harry's brilliant green eyes met her own soft amber ones and she gasped, though Harry quickly covered her mouth so she wouldn't make too much noise. Just because the silencing charm was around Hermione's bed, the rest of the house might have been able to hear in the room if she was too loud. He wished that he'd first cast one around the room too instead of waiting to do that later. Ginny, now wide awake, was staring expectantly at Harry.

"I need you to go into the room Ron and I share to sleep for the rest of the night…please?" Harry whispered, realizing he should have asked Ginny this before they went to bed the night before.

"Why?" Ginny asked in the same tone that Harry had spoken.

"My gift for Hermione and Ron…" Harry trailed off. Ginny's eyes widened as Harry looked over at the red cat on Hermione's dresser, before she covered her own mouth this time, trying her best to stifle the giggle.

"Promise me you will tell me everything you did to pull this off later?" Ginny quickly asked again in that hushed tone. Harry nodded, slowly standing up and pulling away from the red-haired teenage witch in bed. Ginny swung her legs off of the bed and stood up, toe to toe with Harry. She hugged Harry tightly and whispered Happy Christmas in his ear before sliding away and leaving the room, making sure that she wasn't seen.

With Ginny gone, Harry could now concentrate on the setting up his Christmas prank. Closing the door, he took a piece of parchment out of the bag he had brought in and stuck it to the back of the door with a sticking charm. The raven-haired teen smiled at the handiwork that had gone into that piece of now magical parchment – he'd have to thank Lupin for the spells on the marauder's map that reacted to the person looking at the paper. Moving back to the bag, the famous wizard took out of a piece of mistletoe and hung it in the doorway. Next, he levitated Hermione temporarily into Ginny's bed. Turning back to her bed, Harry transfigured the single sized mattress into a queen sized one along with all the sheets and coverings on the bed. He leant down and pulled back the sheets.

Laying the red cat down in the bed, the powerful teenaged wizard took out his wand to undo the spell he had used on his best friend – Harry had to admit he couldn't carry Ron in his full form. Reversing the transformation, Ron, in his bedclothes, now appeared in the bed. Turning to his other best friend, he levitated her back to her own bed next to Ron, so that she was curled into Ron's side. Harry then gently moved Ron's arm so it lay across Hermione's stomach. While Harry knew that the sleeping drought he had used on them last night should do its job, he didn't want to wake them up now. Harry sighed in relief when he saw Ron unconsciously pull Hermione closer and Hermione snuggle into Ron's grasp. Harry smiled knowing his gift would be perfect.

Harry canceled the silencing charm around the bed and recast a new one around the room. It wouldn't do to have everyone come running if either screamed in surprise. Casting the silent alarm charm for his two friends to go off at 7:30 am, Harry moved out of the room. Harry turned to the door and cast a few final spells on the door – to insure they couldn't get out of the room without a full, emotional kiss passing between them and so that they wouldn't be disturbed. The last of his prank in place, Harry grinned wickedly. His best friends would be in for quite the gift this year, though he did have some other things for them in case they didn't appreciate this one. Grinning to himself, he moved back towards his room to get the gifts he had bought everyone downstairs – he had asked everyone the night before about doing Christmas American style and they had readily agreed.

It was several hours later that found Harry with Remus, and all of the Weasley's, except Percy, Bill and Charlie. Though Harry had hoped that a few more people would come, most were out on Order business and weren't able to enjoy the holiday. Hermione and Ron were still holding hands as they had all morning; the faint blush around their cheeks hadn't disappeared either.

"Wait…what I want to know is how you pulled the sleeping drought over on them!" Fred questioned mirthfully. The news that Harry's Christmas gift to his two best friends had come in the form of a prank had come as a surprise to all, almost bigger than the result of the prank itself. It had been the subject that they had talked about in between a lot of the gifts being opened that morning, which had lasted into the afternoon.

"Aye mate, it would've changed the color of the pumpkin juice!" George added to his twins' comment, as if the two had tried it before and failed on their own attempt. In response, Harry threw the two a small packaged box. Fred, the one who caught it, ripped it open to find a small disk inside with a small syringe stopper above it. The twins looked at Harry with a perplexed look in their eyes.

"I made it – with no patent yet. That is my gift to you two - a color copier. That little device is how I changed the color of the pumpkin juice back to the original color. Be careful though – it's a permanent change!"

"But Harry – transfiguring just the color of an object is extremely advanced magic!" Hermione responded over Fred and George's bellows of joy and exuberance. Harry looked up and just smiled with a small twinkle in his eye that reminded her of Dumbledore.

"Why didn't you patent it first, Harry? You could have made oodles of money from the twins' store." Ron asked. He didn't want Harry to be taken for as much money as he knew Fred and George would make from modifying objects with that – not to mention if they actually sold it.

"I already get money from –"

"HARRY!" Both the twins hissed at him. Harry looked at them strangely for a moment before he quirked his own eyebrow questioningly.

"Get money from what, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked, feeling she knew the answer to the question as the twins had jumped down his throat. Shrugging, Harry responded to Mrs. Weasley's question.

"Well, I'm their silent business partner." Harry used his hands to emphasize the silent part – as if to say, that wasn't his own idea. "I get five percent of their earnings."

"Why, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I gave them the money to start the business." He could hear a very loud audible sigh to his left from the duo who owned Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"There goes our last secret, Forge!"

"Down in smoke!"

"In Ruin!"

"Though, it was a fun prank to see Mum ruffle when we brought up how we got it."

"We'll never get that again," was heard with a fake, exasperated sigh.

"Those were the memories…" Now, a sniffle had joined the conversation.

"Boys! How could you take the money from Harry here!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted. Both looked at Harry, unsure how to answer that question.

"Mrs. Weasley – it was my triwizard money. That's all."

"That's all? A thousand galleons! That's ALL?" She replied to Harry's statement, astounded that it could be so nonchalant. A stubborn and stern look came upon Harry's face as he looked at the matron of the Weasley clan.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley, that IS all!" Harry retorted, his voice firm though he never raised it to a shout. "I didn't need the money – and I didn't want a reminder of just how I'd gotten that money – so I gave it to a good cause." Harry paused, a small smile on his face again. "Laughter. Besides, at this point they've paid me back in full and are treating me as if I were a smaller, third partner, which is fine by me."

"Oh Harry!" She was nearly crying at this point as she reached down and hugged the seventeen year old.

"Well, I say we get to more gifts!" Ron said, trying to give Harry some breathing room. "What's left?"

"I think…that I've got the last one, Ron." Remus said, as though slightly unsure that he wanted to give his gift to Harry. Mrs. Weasley quickly calmed down and backed off the older teenager so that he could open his last gift. She, of course, had been keeping track of exactly would had gotten gifts so far. Remus stood from his chair, a small, clothing box under his arm. Harry took the gift, recognizing the reluctance in Remus' eyes. "You may want to have some time by yourself when you open your gift, Harry." Harry pulled open the paper on the box, throwing it all in the trash bag near by. Placing the box down, he opened the top of it to reveal a note, sitting on top of a pensieve. Taking the pensieve in hand, Harry briefly read it.

_Harry – _

_I know that since the moment you looked into Snape's pensieve a year and a half ago, you wanted to know a more complete view of your parents. This gift is two fold- it's a pensieve for you to use, but it is also all the important memories I have of either one or both of your parents. It has not been easy to go through all of these – and I lived them. But, I think this should give you the best picture you can get. _

_With all my love,_

_Moony_

Harry shakily placed the parchment aside and looked into the pensieve. It was a gift so overwhelming he didn't know what to say. Focusing hard on the silver dish in front of him, he wished to see, more than anything, a defining moment that would show him a side of his Dad so different than what he had seen in Snape's office a year and a half ago. The basin started swirling…

"_Sirius, if you ever forced me to choose between you and her, even as things stand now…I'd chose her a thousand out of thousand times without batting an eyelash."_

_

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_PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Review and respond, or else Pete get's it!


	3. Being Jealous of the Rumor to be

Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me….

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If there was one thing Harry could lose himself in – it was flying. The air washed over him as he pulled up from another dive, smiling to himself. While the air was still cool and brisk in the morning, it wasn't biting cold. It was enough to fully wake his senses up as he dipped and flew through the air. It was a pleasant morning to be alone. The sun shone brightly just over the tops of the trees to give the castle a bright spotlight to sit in, though the shadows allowed for dew to come up from the ground in wisps of early morning fog. Mornings, if nothing else, were quiet and relaxed. Even Voldemort seemed to honor the grace and beauty that the early morning sunrise gave to the earth. The thought made Harry smile momentarily. Nothing else seemed to placate the evil wizard. 

Oddly enough, Harry mused, that wasn't why he was out and about this morning. At least, it was not the direct reason, though everything led to the evil wizard these days. The raven haired wizard was still making his way, slowly yet surely, through the memories in the pensieve that Remus had given him. It still made him nervous to jump into them. That first memory of his father…it was something that he wasn't sure he should have seen. Then again, Remus had willingly given them to Harry. Harry couldn't imagine how hard it would have been to give up treasured memories to share with someone else and made sure Remus knew on every occasion they ran into each other that the werewolf found out.

Harry had come to a startling conclusion last night; his search was futile and that the memories would still never give him his parents. His envy of Ron and Ginny was what had him outside on the quidditch pitch. Harry didn't want to have to see two of his three best friends. While he had admitted that avoiding Ron would have been easy once outside their dorm room ('Hermione and Ron seemed to want to be attached at the hip…err…was that the mouth? One never knows…' Harry thought distractedly), Ginny sometimes was very hard to ignore. She also seemed to be able to read him like a book as of late, which he detested just as much at the moment.

'Speaking of the witch…' Harry thought to himself as he saw a small form near the locker rooms. She wasn't hard to spot, at least not for the 'famous' wizard. Knowing he had been spotted, he didn't run away. Obviously, Ginny wanted to speak to him for some reason, though why she was up this early on a Saturday he had no idea. Harry settled himself for some more dangerous moves in the air while waiting for his only single best friend.

Soon enough, Ginny was mirroring his movements as best she could, not really interrupting him but letting her presence be known. It was a silent agreement they came up with. Ginny could always find Harry and stay in his presence, but she always let Harry initiate any conversation they were having.

"Didn't expect you up so early after the party last night." The 7th year wizard dryly remarked to his companion. At this, Ginny blushed just a twinge, though Harry couldn't be sure that it was just the wind whipping against her face.

"I…well, I slept long enough. Besides, once I saw you outside I just had to come and fly with you. We don't get enough chances to just fly, you know?"

"Only if you sleep late." Harry replied with a wry grin. Ginny reached over and swatted his arm with her own as if to call him a brat.

"Well, guess what?" Ginny smiled mischievously; it was a grin that Fred and George used often and it wasn't until recently that the youngest Weasley had picked it up as well.

"You're really bald and you like to wear wigs?" Harry came back with. Ginny looked at him, surprised, before laughing so hard she had to stop moving in the air so she didn't fall off her broom.

"You're getting better at those nonsense phrases, you know," Ginny supplied, in between gales of laughter. It had become a goal of Harry's that he be able to come up with quips as quickly as the twins'. Harry liked that they were able to keep most moods light even in heavy discussions, though he did see the value of not using them sometimes. Ginny was one of the few who knew that Harry was working on it and made it a point to let him know when he had done well once away from the prying eyes of others.

"So…" Harry inquired, trying to lead back to Ginny's original question. Ginny flashed him a smile than levitated a bit higher than he was flying at. With quick grace, she jumped off of her broom and landed on the edge of Harry's broom. The added weight surprised Harry, whose broom had started to dive a little bit before Harry could get it back under control.

"Ginny!" He finally said, exasperated a little bit. The red-haired teen giggled, looking directly back into his eyes.

"Well, it's easier to talk this way." She mentioned, summoning her own broom back to her.

"Why don't we just land and talk, in that case."

"Well, I didn't think you would listen if I asked that." Ginny replied, knowing how much he liked flying. Harry shook his head before taking off for the easiest place to land on the castle – the astronomy tower. Ginny looked ahead, realizing where he meant to land.

"Harry…not that I would mind being on that tower…especially with _you_…but, umm…well, do you want people to start another rumor about you?" Harry landed on the tower in the mean time, allowing the young woman to hop of the broom before he did.

"There are worse rumors than me doing…what would be rumored. Trust me, I know." Harry replied with a hint of sadness in his voice, which Ginny picked up on quickly.

"Well, in that case, lets do something to start the gos…" The red-haired witch started to say, trying to get back his good-natured self. Harry grabbed her arms earnestly, his broom clattering to the ground. Ginny stopped speaking and breathed in sharply at the look of his eyes. If anything, she'd say that he didn't want it to be a false rumor either.

Harry, for the moment, could only think of the moment he shared with her as she woke up on Christmas day…

_...he moved to Ginny's bed and gently shook the beautiful red head to wake her up. _

"_Wha—Mum? Why up?" Ginny moaned in her sleep. Harry couldn't think of anything cuter that he had ever seen. The ends of his fingers ran through her hair, trying to get the young witch to wake up just a bit more…_

… 'She is beautiful' Harry thought to himself as he neared her. Ginny's eyes had closed, almost expectantly waiting. She still loved him! Harry was elated momentarily at the thought. The thought was overshadowed with what he felt it meant to love _him._ Sirius and his parents lay dead – he didn't want Ginny's fate to be theirs. Almost crying inwardly as his lips were practically on hers, he grazed past her waiting lips and kissed her on the cheek.

"Gotcha," he intoned lightheartedly, except his heart was not in it at all. The black-mopped teen hugged her tightly, kissing her gently on the forehead so that Ginny couldn't see as the boy-who-lived pulled all his emotions together so that she couldn't dig past the wall he needed to erect. What he needed, at that moment, was time. Harry felt Ginny push against his chest, knowing she would want to look into his eyes and see the truth that his soul would show her, but she couldn't know it. It couldn't be born for real right now – it had to wait; for her safety above all. He may not be able to keep her away from the fights, but this way they wouldn't target her unnecessarily either. This way, the youngest Weasley was just another witch fighting against the Death Eater cause. Harry was sure that it had to be this way. "I'm feeling better. Want to go head down to the hall for breakfast?" The famed wizard asked, finally pulling away from her. Harry could see Ginny searching his face for answers to the questions that were plaguing her, and as barbaric and hideous as he felt not giving her them, he felt he must not. 'Please forgive me, Ginny…I promise to protect you with my last breath…'

"Sure." Ginny's response was short, but there was more warmth to her voice than Harry had heard ever. He just didn't know if he could handle the implications.

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a la Larry the Cucumber, in oh wear is my hairbrush> 

OH please, please respond. OH please, please review. OH please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please OH PLEAAAAAAAASE!

Review and Respond!

PS - Thanks to harry-an-ginny for my one review! I'm glad you enjoy! Hopefully this will make you smile just as much.


	4. Nothing is Impossible, When This Exists

Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me….

2nd note: This chapter has a whole lot of latin in it. All the translation for the new spells can be found at the end of the chapter. PLEASE do not flame me - and just keep reading through the latin; I promise that it is explained.

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"_AVADA –" _

Time stopped for Harry as he stood in the central square of Hogsmeade. It was midday April and the weather was warming up again and the soft breeze felt nice against his skin up until that moment. He'd been discussing what else he, Ginny, Neville and Luna could do while they allowed Hermione and Ron to have their time alone. Harry whirled around in place in the moment that time had stopped for him. He looked from where he heard the voice speaking the deadly spell – he recognized it from the Ministry of Magic – and followed the direction the sound came from and saw what he feared the most; Bellatrix Lestranges' Wand was pointed at Ginny Weasley. His thoughts headed into a maelstrom of thoughts about the beautiful witch that he had shared so much with and wanted to share more with…

_Harry could see Ginny searching his face for answers to the questions that were plaguing her, and as barbaric and hideous as he felt not giving her them, he felt he must not. 'Please forgive me, Ginny…I promise to protect you with my last breath…'_

…Harry, for a moment saw red, before magic – pure, unadultered magic – coarsed through his body. If it was possible for one to think in pure magic, Harry began to. And time seemed to flow again as Harry put together one of the greatest collection of spells in wizarding history.

" – KEDARVA!"

_Protego Glomero, Expilliarmus, Abigo, Stupefy, Stupefy, Enervate, Portus, Wingardium Leviousa, Finite, Stupify bifidus, _Ginny Lives! – _EXPECTO PATRONUM, inactus appareo, stupefy quadrifidus, stupefy bifidus, accio wands, usucapio acclaro wands, coagmentatio wands, coagmentatio Death Eaters, incarcerous_

Harry breathed in deeply, releasing himself from that state, and realized everything he had just done. The whole town square of Hogsmeade was staring at him with awe and wonder, trying to understand everything that had happened. All the spells he'd performed were done mentally – no word was spoken. He looked up and saw Prongs standing beside him regally. The caster looked at his patronus and smiled, knowing somewhere his Dad was looking down on him with a smile. He nodded slightly and the stag disappeared into the air.

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Neville Longbottom looked in awe at Harry, recounting the events of the last two minutes as he joined in the applause that the rest of the town was giving the boy-who-lived. 

10 Death Eaters appeared in the town square of Hogsmeade, just behind Harry Potter and three of his friends. Before anyone could react, the first one to spot Harry's group shouted the killing curse towards the group. The other Death Eaters started to create bedlam. Harry had turned and shot a protection shield through Ginny Weasley, somehow knowing that if the shield was in front of her, it wouldn't save her. The killing spell entered her, but stopped at Harry's shield inside of her body – it was only able to kill a spot of skin on her abdomen. The Death Eater in question froze at the sight; Bellatrix seemed to sense that Ginny had some how lived. Before another thought came to her, she was flung back by the disarming charm. Then, Ginny Weasley was flying through the air at the banishment charm cast by Harry. Both women, in mid air were stunned. Before Ginny hit the ground, she was hit with a reviving charm before being port-keyed back to some unknown location. Sirius' killer was picked up by the hovering charm just before she hit the ground and flung into two of her associates, who were quickly subdued by a split stunner from the boy-who-lived.

Another one of the Death Eater's had already cast the Dark Mark into the sky and the crowds had turned to pandemonium. The seventeen year old wizard cast a Patronus charm so powerful that the stag that appeared seemed to be physical silver. It turned upward, looked at the dark mark with contempt and charged it. For a moment a bright light filled the sky as everyone, other than Harry, seemed to look on in awe. The moment faded and the Dark mark was gone and only Harry's Patronus was now in the sky.

In the moment of everyone else's awe, Harry had stupefied four more of the Death Eater's. The one who had cast the dark mark fell away as soon as his Dark Mark had faded – it had caused too much magical feedback in his system. The last two Death Eaters finally seemed to get the fact that they were over matched. They tried to disapparate but were unable to because Harry had cast an anti-apparition ward after casting his Patronus. As they tried to run away, Harry's Patronus caught them and picked them up, bringing them back to Harry, who quickly cast another split stunner at the two which his Patronus promptly dropped on the ground. The boy-who-lived summoned all the wands, labeled them by owner and bound them together. He quickly bound together all the death eaters as well before turning to his Patronus.

* * *

As Prongs disappeared, so did Harry's sense of elation that he had finished of the death eaters. Being that there was no counter curse to the death curse, he wasn't sure that what he had done was enough to ensure Ginny's safety. While the logical part of his mind tried to assure him that stunning and enervating her had wiped the explosion of magic with in her out, the irrational part of his brain refused to believe it. He recognized that his friends were trying to get his attention but stopped caring. All he wanted to do was get back to the castle where he had whisked Ginny away to. Harry quickly thought to portkey back to the hospital wing. In the midst of his very short supplanted thought, Professor Dumbledore, with Fawkes on his shoulder, put his hand on the young wizard's shoulder. 

"She's well, Harry. However, she'll have to sleep for a time to recover. AND," The silver haired wizard added before the raven haired wizard could ask him another question, "unfortunately, the ministry aurors are going to want to talk to you." Harry nodded absently, as if not listening, before he realized what the aged wizard was talking about. Shaking his head, Harry smiled a bit. It didn't help the gamut of emotions running through him – he figured that for the first time, he was worrying about someone else in the hospital wing. Sighing at the prospect of dealing with the ministry, he set himself up for the worst. He had a feeling it would be a long day of questions between the aurors and his friends.

* * *

So you know, the Latin from above was found by absolute butchering of the language. I looked it up on the website found at Notre Dame (I had the hardest time trying to type the url in here at so I give up). Here's a list of the words that you can't find in the books: 

Protego Glomero – Protection Sphere  
Abigo – Banishing Charm  
inactus appareo – Anti-apparition Barrier (Latin translation for "no movement appear"),  
stupefy quadrifidus – Divide the stunner into four equal parts   
usucapio acclaro – Declare owner (Latin Translation for "reveal the long time possessor of")  
coagmentatio – Binding Spell

All I ask people is that you review! PLEASE REVIEW! Or I may just have to reduce you to smitherines!

Kale: Is that like Mr. Smithers?

PS - Thanks to harry-an-ginny for my two reviews! I'm glad you enjoy! Hopefully this will continue to enjoy these...

PSS Sorry for the long delay. I had a heck of a time trying to login to upload for the last week...


	5. The Truest Gryffindor isn't you or me

Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me….

* * *

Ginny sat surrounded by family in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey had already patched up her stomach – all she really had to do was re-grow the skin (Ginny was secretly grateful to Harry because some of what was killed was fat that could just be forgotten). While the youngest Weasley was glad her family was around her, she felt a longing. Oh, she smiled when she was supposed to smile, laughed when she was supposed to and whined when she knew she could get away with it. However, The thing she wanted most, though, seemed to be eluding her entirely and there was nothing she could do about it. 

Hermione had claimed that she had found Harry beating up some wooden dummy in the Room of Requirement. She also had filled in Ginny on the fantastic battle that Harry had subduing the Death Eaters as well as on all the information that Hermione had pulled from Harry about what had happened. However, for Ginny, her favorite female presence missed the one crucial question – How Harry had been so sure that he could do the impossible? Why was he avoiding the hospital wing?

Fred was telling some joke, so she laughed just to laugh since everyone else was. The red-haired witch just wanted to be able to get up and find the-boy-who-saved-her-twice. She missed him. Ginny realized that this was the longest she had gone without seeing her best friend in 6 months. She missed his flop of hair, his brilliant green eyes and his smile. Harry had captivated her heart once again and she wondered what was keeping him away.

As if a tease, the lone Weasley daughter thought she felt Harry's presence. That's how familiar he was to her – an indication of how much she missed the raven-haired wizard. She looked out the window aimlessly that she sat next to, openly ignoring her family who was talking on the other side of the bed. They didn't seem to notice. After a moment, she felt the bed depress ever so slightly on the window side, but knew she didn't see anyone sitting there. She looked over to see Mad-eye Moody's magic eye was still swinging around, so there couldn't be someone invisible there. She felt something brush her hand softly – it felt akin to another human hand. Staring hard for a moment, Ginny smiled softly as she realized that she hadn't hallucinated; Harry indeed was sitting right there, somehow invisible even to the magic eye.

The red haired witch laid back against her pillow, faking a yawn and letting her hair splay out upon the pillow. "Hey guys…I'm feeling sleepy. Can you go?" She asked, forcing her voice to sound tired and weak. Her mom turned back to her and tucked her in a bit, kissing her cheek (Ginny was slightly disappointed that Harry had to move and let go of her hand for Mom to do so. Ginny hoped he wouldn't leave). The young witch bid the others goodbye, and they all murmured the same back and that they hoped she would get better soon.

As Ginny heard the door close, she softly whispered Harry's name. The young man instantly appeared behind her, gently massaging her shoulders.

"Hm…That feels good Harry." Ginny said, her eyes still closed.

"Are you sure you want me to stay." Harry said with a smile in his voice. "I mean, if you're tired…" Ginny swatted his hand, mumbling 'brat' underneath her voice which got a laugh out of Harry. The young man continued to massage the young woman's shoulder.

"How'd you trick Moody's eye? He didn't know you were here…" Ginny asked, finally pushing herself into a sitting position. The fiery-haired woman patted the bed next to her to have the powerful wizard sit next to her, which he responded in kind.

"Dobby's been teaching me some of the charms the house-elves use. He's been more than happy to do so."

"And you trust him?" Ginny asked, surprised.

"I noticed how powerful each magic creature was in their domain. So, among other things, I thought it would be prudent to learn house stuff from the house elves." Harry laughed, lost in thought for a moment after he had sat down. "Do you remember Hermione's over zealousness with creating clothes? Dobby was the only one to clean Gryffindor tower during that whole fiasco since the other house elves feared that they would be released accidentally. He did the same work as 5 house elves in the same amount of time, and took care of Winky! The Malfoy's, in their arrogance, let go one of the most skilled house elves in England."

"But he's ….he's loopy!"

"And our headmaster isn't?" Harry said cheekily, forcing Ginny to mull over that piece of information. Ginny shook her head, deciding that it wasn't worth the analysis. She glanced down for a moment, trying to sort through her thoughts on what to ask him first. There were so many questions that could be asked. She realized that Harry's hand was gently resting on her leg, mere inches from her own hand. That's how it seemed to be with the two of them – touching, but scared of jumping over the last wire. And out of frustration, she found the courage to voice her question.

"Harry…" Ginny started, taking a deep breath. Harry sat up a little straighter after seeing the serious expression on her face. "How did you know?"

"Know what?" Harry asked, wondering to what she was referring to. Ginny looked out the window, fearing to what she would see in his eyes as she spoke.

"Know that I lived." It was almost a whisper. The teenage witch was tempted to start rambling about how Professor Cavanaugh had reiterated what he had said to the DA: there is no counter-curse to the unforgivables; that they had to avoid the curses entirely or suffer the consequences. She heard Harry sigh next to her – it was a heavy sigh, not a sigh of relief that "oh, that's all she's asking" sigh. That scared her even more. Ginny looked up to see Harry staring off into space…

_As Prongs disappeared, so did Harry's sense of elation that he had finished of the death eaters. Being that there was no counter curse to the death curse, he wasn't sure that what he had done was enough to ensure Ginny's safety. _

…"The truth, Ginny, is not what you're expecting to hear, that is, at least I think it's not, but...give me a moment, 'kay?" Harry asked, hesitantly, which forced Ginny to look at him. She nodded, trying to put a halt to everything she was thinking. The raven-haired teen took a deep breath to compose himself.

"I didn't know. I prayed and I wished and I took my chance knowing what you know, but, I didn't know it would work anymore than you did." Harry softly, looking directly at her and taking her hand into his own. His tough, calloused fingers somehow were soft and gentle as they caressed the back of her hand. "The difference is that had it been anyone else – Hermione, Ron, the twins', Neville, Remus – and you know that list goes on – I would have just given up on them," Harry paused, stuttering a little as he made known some of his own raging thoughts, "I don't think I would have even tried. I would miss them, yes, but they would not be sitting in your bed, having been saved. And even if I had tried, I don't think it would have worked."

Ginny's brow did not have to furrow to figure out what he was saying. A smile was on her face and tears had started to collect behind her eyes, poised to fall. The beautiful, teenage witch gently clutched his hand back, enjoying the sensations the contact sent up and down her arm. She began to choke up on her words as she spoke again. "How long have you known?"

"I figured it out the day after Colin asked Hannah out."

"You've know for that long?" Harry nodded with a bit of a smile.

"Do you remember how annoyed I was then?" Harry asked her gently. Ginny nodded. "Well, I had just finished going through the pensieve that Remus had given me, you know, for Christmas, and I had come to a conclusion about our generation – that all our parents were selfish. I mean, 'how could you have a kid in the middle of the war', right? 'You don't know who was going to win – why even risk them?' At least, that's what I thought. But…more than the thought of my parents being selfish, I couldn't deal with the thought of _your_ parents being selfish with how _unselfish_ they've been in how they've helped me. Then, in the midst of those thoughts, Colin asks Hannah out, which got me more annoyed. I mean, here's Colin, who I had already pulled aside for more help because we're pretty sure he's going to be a target, and he asks out someone who wouldn't be a target for a very long time! So, I went flying that night to get rid of the edge of my anger." Harry took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts.

"On my way back in from flying, though, I heard two groups of people talking about Colin and Hannah. The first was a group of Hufflepuffs. They were talking about how Hannah had said something to the effect that she wanted to be a muggle-born for two reasons; one, that Colin wouldn't be so afraid of involving her, and two, that she was sick of being told to keep her head low from her parents. Here was someone basically asking to be a target so that she could relate to her friends and help them stay together. Then I run into Katie and Bill, that couple from your year in Gryffindor, talking about how Colin had liked Hannah since the beginning of the year.

"Then it hit me like a ton of bricks – it wasn't selfishness, it was courage and faith. Faith that the war would end the way it should and courage enough to get past their fears and live like they would if the war _wasn't_ going on. And I admired Colin at that moment more than almost any other Gryffindor." Harry took a deep breath. "And that got me to think about what had happened on the astronomy tower between us. You know, reevaluate my thoughts from that day and how I lied to myself...and to you."

A soft line of tears were now starting to fall from Ginny's eyes and Harry moved quicker to wipe them away than she could. Harry knew, however, that these were very different tears from what Cho had cried; these tears were tears of joy and Harry welcomed them. Harry then scratched the back of his head, hoping that he could make up for the iniquity that he had done nearly two months ago. He began to slowly move in towards her as he pulled her gently with the hand he had wiped away her tears with.

"No pranks this time?" Ginny asked, softly, a gentle grin on her face.

"None at all, love," Harry responded just before his lips met hers.

* * *

The fork and spoon gave me reviews before they made a leap of faith over the moon with the cow, Elsie. Will you do the same too?

Many thanks to my reviewers, buffalo1fromSalem and harry-an-ginny. To answer your question, it's Harry's 7th year.   



	6. Your wife will always know more than you

Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me….

Sorry for the long update...I actually just got fully ordained! That took some time to get everything together, but I'm back!

* * *

James Potter sat down into his chair at work, running his hand through his hair as he did. As one of the best aurors on the squad, he had just come back from giving a debriefing on his current case to the next shift of aurors set to head out that night. If anything, the black haired man was glad to be going home for some rest. 

The once fun loving mischief maker started to move and sort out the paper work on his desk so he could come back tomorrow with hopefully a clear head and a clean start to the day. As he was working on cleaning up the last of his stuff, a paper airplane slid in front of him and onto his desk. Scrunching his eyebrow, he opened up the parchment quickly and a smile graced his face when he recognized the handwriting.

_Hey James kiss - _

_Can you do me a favor? My day is over and I need to use the floo network tonight because of the stage of my pregnancy. However, I don't want to jostle Harry (I hope you don't mind I'm already using his name!) by landing hard at home so if you could put a pretty large cushioning charm in front of the fire place, that would be wonderful. Just floo me when you're done so in the office. I'm ready to go at any time tonight. I love you so much, my boy wonder. _

_With all my Heart_

_Lily Potter_

James frowned a bit in concern. She had apparated into work that morning, why couldn't she do so now? Sighing, "her boy wonder" got up and left his desk, apparating directly out of the auror office (as only an auror could) to Godrics Hollow. He had some work to do to prepare the way for his wife.

* * *

The Potter's were sitting on their couch together in front of the fire, spending that same night quietly together. This was one of the few nights that they had neither a late night working as a member of the Order of Phoenix or at the Ministry. Lily was leaning against James as she was laid out on the couch, enjoying her husband's company after the large dinner he had made for the two of them. 

"Thanks for preparing for me to come home. I really appreciated that. Did you make the cushioning charm semi-permanent?"

"Well, I can. I didn't though. How come you suddenly had to start flooing?" James asked with a slight concern in his voice.

"Oh, well, I can tell you Harry's going to be quite magical already. I actually have to start my maternity leave tomorrow because I can't be at work any more with what he started to do today." Lily said softly, with a slight tone of the old know-it-all inside of her.

"Which is…?" James said, his worry growing. What could suddenly cause her to stop going to work?

"He's been shooting magical sparks into my belly all day to deal with my emotions. Quite frustrating really." She said with a slight pout. "If I was anxious, he tried to calm me; if I was happy, he'd tried to celebrate with me; if I was angry, he tried to assuage me. Only problem was that he can't distinguish what is what yet and it all just hurt." James had to chuckle because he could see it only was a minor discomfort compared to other points of her pregnancy that had happened early on. Being the muggle born witch she was, she had no idea of some of the remedies for the early stages of a magical pregnancy.

"Well, as least then we know he's got your temperament. That's not entirely a bad thing, is it love?" James said with a slight smile, gently kissing the top of her head.

"Well, then I hope he looks like you then, or else people will start to wonder!" Lily laughed, snuggling slightly more into the body of her husband.

"As long as he has your eyes. He can't have your temperament without your eyes. It just wouldn't be right." James looked endearingly at his wife.

"Do you think he'll fall in love and be out of trouble?" Lily asked with a touch of fear, considering the state of the war.

"Well, if he's got any of me in him, he'll be in trouble alright." The raven-haired man said with humor in his voice, trying to remove the worry from his wife. When she didn't respond, he sighed softly, trying to think through the situations that could arise…

…"_The difference is that had it been anyone else…I would have just given up on them. I would miss them, yes, but they would not be sitting in your bed, having been saved. And even if I had tried, I don't think it would have worked." _

_The beautiful woman's brow didn't have to furrow to figure out what he was saying. A smile was on her face and tears had started to collect behind her eyes, poised to fall. The beautiful, teenage witch gently clutched his hand back, enjoying the sensations the contact sent up and down her arm. She began to choke up on her words as she spoke again…_

…"That's why we fight. I hope that we're close to finishing this thing off, but we don't know. I'll do my damnedest to make sure that Harry can though." Chuckling a bit, he added, "He'll probably fall in love like you do. It'll take him forever, but when he does, it'll be so strong that it may bowl his girl right over with it." Lily smiled softly at her husband's statement, gently reaching up and kissing his cheek.

"You're sweet." She said softly. Looking up into his eyes, she saw that he had a bit of confusion in his eyes. "What are you thinking?"

"What changed you're mind about me? You came back from our sixth summer acting differently towards me than you ever had before." Lily Potter giggled softly, almost laughing to herself.

"I never told you, did I? Well, that at least confirms that Remus didn't tell you either..."

"Remus knows and I don't?" James said, feigning indignant.

"Well, dear, you left before you could have found out." This left James utterly confused. "We've never talked about this, but…before I found this out, I…oh James this isn't easy." Sighing, she set herself into him more, making sure that he wouldn't leave on her as she began to speak.

"For a very long time I thought I was just a trophy to satiate your arrogance. I wasn't stupid; I knew that I was good looking and smart – that made me pretty popular and I thought that that was what you were attracted to. It was just the thing you see in books and movies – the jock wants the head of the cheerleaders." James nodded with a slight frown, remembering some of the movies he'd sat and watched with Lily's family.

"What changed your mind?" he asked softly. Lily chuckled.

"Remember the day at the end of sixth year when Maria Bell asked you out?"

"How could I not with Sirius' display afterwards." James lamented, remembering that day with disdain.

"Do you remember what you said to him?" She asked softly. James shook his head. Lily smiled softly and started to recount for him…

…" _She makes me want to be a better person than I am – and just for her! And, as you so nicely pointed out, that's while she despises my guts at the moment! … Sirius, if you ever forced me to choose between you and her, even as things stand now…I'd chose her a thousand out of thousand times without batting an eyelash." James walked the way the trio had come without either of the other two teens trying to stop him. The statement James had made was so profound that it had left both speechless. Remus knew that he was sure he could be included in a couple of those statements; Sirius was just the one who had made an ass out of himself. _

"_Blimey…" Sirius shook his head out of his own reverie and scratched the back of his head. The grim animagus pushed off from the wall towards a second corridor, leaving the werewolf to his own thoughts. Remus stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where James had gone from. _

As Remus stood there, his enhanced senses picked up on a soft sob coming from up where the three friends were walking earlier. He moved closer to the sound and realized something that his brain had just barely registered earlier: The soft breeze earlier wasn't a natural one – it was one caused from the casting of a concealment spell.

"Lily…"

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I will not beg for reviews again. That said - don't make me rip your liver out, because we don't shoot nobody here.  



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